The Merchant
by Zylac
Summary: One-shot:Saix goes on a mission to find an intruder on The World That Never Was, and meets a certain brown-haired merchant. My first fic.


_**The Merchant**_

It was a cloudy evening on The World That Never Was. Overlooking everything was a large gray castle. In one of the rooms, two men in black coats, one with blue hair, the other with silver, were having a discussion.

The one with blue hair asked, "Are you certain, Superior? This could have severe implications."

"I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't," replied the one with silver hair. "Something has infiltrated this world."

"And it isn't the Keyblade-Wielder?"

"No, it's something…different. I want you to find whomever or whatever it is, and find out why it's here. Use lethal force if necessary."

The blue-haired one smiled a little when he heard the last part, but he quickly returned to a more neutral face. "Understood." And with that, he disappeared into a corridor of darkness.

_A few minutes later, on The World That Never Was…_

A corridor made of darkness, similar to the one from before, opened up in front of a skyscraper. The blue-haired man from before stepped out and looked around. _Odds are, my target will pass through here,_ he thought to himself. _All I have to do is wait here, and whatever it is will come to me._

He didn't need to wait long. After just a few minutes he felt the ground start to shake. He quickly summoned a massive blue sword out of seemingly nowhere, and took a battle stance. Around the corner came a short heartless, it looked like it was wearing some type of cloak, and it carried a cane. _This is my target! _The blue-haired man thought as his stance relaxed a little. Seeing this, the small heartless pointed his cane forward, and suddenly three Behemoths came barreling around the corner.

The man was caught by surprise for a moment, and was slammed by the lead Behemoth. As he got up, a fire was in his eyes. Almost on cue, the heart-shaped moon appeared from behind a patch in the clouds. The man's sword instantly transformed, and seemed to take on a life of its own. He slammed the sword on the lead Behemoth's middle horn, shattering the horn, which caused the Behemoth to fade away, leaving behind a heart which disappeared quickly. He repeated the process with the other two, leaving just the small one.

He raced towards the last one with a psychotic smile on his face. "I only wish there were more," he shouted to himself. The heartless, happy to oblige, waved his cane, causing another Behemoth to appear out of nowhere. As the man swung back to ready the final blow, savoring the moment, the Behemoth rammed him, causing him to crash into one of the buildings off to the side. This did little to slow him down, as he quickly got up and slayed the latest Behemoth. The heartless summoned more Behemoths to replace the last one. The man slayed each one as it came, enjoying every minute of.

After continuing this for about ten minutes the man tired a little, and he could tell the moon was starting disappear behind the clouds, so he decided to finish the battle quickly. As he struck another Behemoth down, he used the momentum to launch himself at the small heartless. In an instant he brought his sword down with all his might on to the tiny heartless, destroying it and the ground beneath it. As soon as he did that the remaining Behemoths faded away, and the moon was covered by clouds.

He instantly calmed down, and his sword returned to normal. As he dismissed his sword and prepared to report back to the castle, he heard a voice from behind him.

"That was quite a show." A shorter man with brown hair approached the other man. He had an unusual accent.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The man with the blue hair summoned his weapon back and pointed it at the other man.

"Oh, where are my manners. O'aka the Twenty-third, merchant extraordinaire at your service! I'm not really sure how I got here, one minute some guy is trying to get stuff from me for free, something about a monster attacking our ship, and then I wake up here. Wait! I believe we were on the way to some sort of wedding. Yes, I'm sure of it. Other than that I don't really remember much."

"Your story sounds suspicious, but luckily for you the moon's covered by clouds, so I'll let you live…for now." Those last two words were spoken in a slightly harsher tone. "For now I'll take you to Superior and let him decide what to do with you."

"Alright, but before we go, have a potion on the house. You look like you were injured a bit by those monsters."

The blue-haired man silently accepted the offer. After drinking it he opened up a corridor of darkness, and told the other man to follow him. _This man is quite strange, I wonder what Superior will do with him,_ he thought as they went through.

_Later, in Superior's office…_

A dark corridor appeared, and both of the men stepped through. The man with silver hair appeared to be waiting, and if he was surprised to see the brown-haired man, he didn't show it.

"This is the one who was trespassing," the blue-haired man reported, "I decided it would be best you decided what to do with him. I also fought an unknown heartless that could summon Behemoths."

"Thanks for the report, now leave while I speak with this man."

"Understood." And with that, the blue haired man disappeared into another dark corridor.

The silver haired man now addressed the brunette. "So you're the intruder, then. Might I ask how you survived the heartless? You don't look like you have much combat experience."

"Ah, that. Luckily I always carry a few grenades around to defend myself against any monsters, bandits, or other unpleasant types."

"I see. Might I ask how you got here?"

"Well, I'm not really sure how exactly. I remember being on a Gummi Ship, and we were rammed by a massive monster, and then I woke up here."

This seemed to intrigue the other man. He then asked the brunette a seemingly random question: "How are you feeling right now?"

"What do you mean," The other man responded.

"Are you angry, scared, sad, happy, hungry, or anything like that?"

"Hmm…now that you mention it, I'm not really feeling anything."

This really seemed to get the other man's attention. "Have you considered the possibility that you did not survive the attack on the Gummi Ship?"

"Wait a second," The brunette said with sudden realization, "are trying to tell me I'm dead?"

"Not dead, but also not alive. You just "are"."

"I don't really understand. What do you mean?"

"When a person loses their heart, it is consumed by the Heartless. If their heart was strong enough, the shell left behind becomes something called a "Nobody". That's what I am, that's what the man from before is, and that's what you are. We exist, but at the same time we don't"

"So you're telling me I'm one of these, what'd you call them? Nobodies? And I lost my heart during the attack. And I also don't really exist. Is that everything?"

"As far as you're concerned, yes."

"So what do I do now? Most of my inventory was lost when I woke up here."

"Inventory?"

"Ah, yes, how rude, I never introduced myself. O'aka the Twenty-third, merchant extraordinaire at your service!"

"I see. Well then, how'd you like to set up shop here?" _Those damn Moogles keep taking all the hearts we've collected as payment, we'll never complete Kingdom Hearts at this rate,_ he thought to himself.

"Sounds great, just one problem. Like I said before, I lost most of my inventory. I suppose I would be able to restock for about 10,001 munny, but I'd also need a supplier.

"10,001? Seems oddly specific, but easily doable. You can use dark corridors to get to other worlds to restock; Number Two can show you that. If you'll be doing business on other worlds, however, I'd recommend you get a black coat like the one I'm wearing."

"Alright, I'll do it, when do I start?"

"Right now, welcome to The Organization, Kax'oa."


End file.
